The powerful Odin summon has appeared in almost every Final Fantasy game released since Final Fantasy 3, and his appearance hasn’t changed much in all of that time, even if the method in calling him to battle has. But in the newest FF game, Final Fantasy 13, Odin is given a major overhaul as part of the new combat system, including a bold new look. Now referred to as an Eidolon, Odin must be defeated in battle before becoming the lead character Lightning’s exclusive summon. Odin first appears in a humanoid form wielding his massive double-ended Zantetsuken sword, which in older games was always the case, but he was also astride a mighty steed. The surprise comes when the player activates the Gestalt mode and a secondary form takes place as Odin himself transforms into a horse for Lightning to mount as she splits his sword into two massive scythe blades to use on enemies. The new Odin is now realized in a fully-transformable, highly-detailed action figure in Square-Enix’s FFXIII Play Arts Kai series.

PACKAGING: Odin comes packaged in a massive box displaying the figure in Horse form through a large front window. The colorful box is mostly blues and greens with a design reminiscent of the game’s Crystarium menu. The sides and back of the packaging offer photos of the completed figure and his various display options. The figure itself is packaged extremely well with a three-layer stacked plastic tray with the bottom used for misc. parts and the top and middle layer fitting around the figure and zip-tied securely in place.

SCULPT, ARTICULATION & FEATURES: No matter which way you decide to display Odin, you will be amazed at the level of detail that the sculptors have included in the massive piece. Every inch of Odin is covered in ornate scultpting, from his multi-faceted armor to the texture in his boots and tail, all of these small details help match the figure with in-game design almost perfectly. The Play Arts series always has tons of articulation and Odin is no exception, boasting at least 25 points, but probably much more, depending on your definition of articulation related to his “transforming” feature.

Unfortunately, this is where Odin’s downfall occurs: all of his articulation is almost wasted. Because of all of the moving parts, it was a chore to get him to even stand-up, let alone pose. The stand was almost mandatory. I spent an excessive amount of time trying to keep the figure from falling apart in the middle, without his tail or one of his legs falling off, and that was just in his horse form. The figure was extremely easy to transform though, and once he was positioned he looked great. This is one of those cases where the design is phenomenal but the execution is lacking and this is definitely more of a display piece than an action figure. I recommend getting him where you want him and leaving him alone!

PAINT: Much like the sculpting, the paint detail on Odin is phenomenal. Rather than going with a straight gold, all of Odin’s armor has a brushed, textured appearance to give a battle-worn look. The gold and silver paint used on Odin is metallic-based as well, which really makes the figure almost glow with all of the shimmering detail. The shoulder armor also has characters from the game’s alphabet done in a very clean transfer.

ACCESSORIES: Most of Odin’s miscellaneous parts are the extras needed to make his transformation from horse to humanoid such as alternate hands, shoulder joints, and brackets. The included stand is actually four parts that can be modified to suit either form. The impressive Zantetsuken sword pieces are massive and look great paired with the figure. Odin also includes a second set of hands for Lightning to allow her to wield the sword halves, but are also an almost pointless inclusion as Lightning’s arms are nowhere near strong enough to hoist the huge blades and the hands themselves can’t even keep a grip on the weapons.

OVERALL: Despite major issues in the execution of the figure, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this figure is extremely impressive in terms of size and detailing. As I noted, it's more of a display piece than an action figure and that's okay because I would be more than excited to display this awesome Eidolon next to the rest of my FFXIII Play Arts collection! This incredible figures is available now from Square-Enix's online store and many other fine e-tailers.